Haddy ends her winter dormancy

My Desert Hairy finally reemerged this morning from her winter dormancy. This is the first that I've seen of her in 6 months. She did exactly the same thing last year. Time to offer her a small bowl of water and some crickets.

Some species, like H. arizonensis, are known to go dormant during the winter but I don't know if it actually extends their life. Some keepers see this behavior in their scorpions and others do not. The trigger is not well understood but it's thought to be influenced by environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and photoperiod. It's also suspected that a biological component may be involved.

The first winter I had my Haddy she blocked off her burrow entrances in December and I didn't see her for a week, then a month, then two months. I would occasionally remove the cover I have on the side of her enclosure and peek in her burrow. She would move slightly so I knew she was still alive.

I didn't change any of the conditions in her enclosure to induce this behavior. I was a bit surprised by it but not alarmed. I assumed she knew what she was doing so I turned off the heat lamp and left her undisturbed. I figured that she would come out when she was ready. In May, I started heating her enclosure once again and she finally emerged the first week of June. When she did the same thing this December, it was pretty much expected.

Yes, I provided no heat to her enclosure all winter and the room I have her in would drop to 65F at night. This is much warmer than what she would experience in the wild, however. During the winter, the Sonoran Desert drops into the 40's at night.